Roger I de Saint-Lary

With Anjou's return to France as king Henri III, Bellegarde was to be sent to the Commonwealth, as a special ambassador to the country to smooth things over.[3] Accompanying him would be the Guise grandee Elbeuf. Their departure was however indefinitely delayed due to the dire economic straights the kingdom was in, as Henri sought desperately to float his government financially.[4]

With war resumed against the politiques in 1574, in particular against Marshal Damville who based himself out of Languedoc. The court assembled an army 18,000 strong to head south along the Rhône and confront him.[5] This army was put under the command of Bellegarde, who had recently been elevated as Marshal by the new king over the protestations of Catherine.[6][7] In early October Bellegarde and his army besieged Le Pouzin in a costly effort that sapped the royal armies strength. The town subdued the army would move on to siege Livron from December to January 1575 which proved to be an even more costly effort. The garrison repulsed several attempted assaults and despite a visit from Henri to the siege lines, the soldiers began deserting en masse, angry at the lack of pay. Bellegarde had to withdraw his forces from the town before they melted away completely and received much criticism for his handling of the army.[8] Bellegarde blamed the failure of the siege on a dispute between the forge masters who produced shot for the artillery and the crown. The crown had baulked at the prices demanded by the cartel and only when Henri threatened to remove their privileges did they agree to lower the prices of the shot, leading to much delay regarding the artillery.[9]

Pushed towards a new civil war by the Ligue dominated Estates General of 1576 Henri conducted frantic diplomacy to try and avoid another conflict, succeeding in peeling away the politics under Damville from their former Huguenot allies. Bellegarde was again tasked with facing the Huguenots in Languedoc. He had little more success than in the prior war, with François de Coligny harrying the forces under his and Damville's command. The conflict would however be brought to an end with the Treaty of Bergerac before a pitched battle could be fought.[10]

Keen to neutralise Damville now peace was restored, Henri pressured him to hand over his governorship of Languedoc to Bellegarde, in exchange for Bellegarde's Marquisate of Saluzzo. In preparation to receive his new office Bellegarde resigned his commission, however Damville refused the exchange, leading to Bellegarde attempting to seize his old command back by force with the assistance of the Protestant Lesdiguières.[11]

In 1579 Bellegarde outlined the steps he felt were necessary to ensure a peace edict was properly abided by in Dauphiné. He declared that to do so successfully required the dismantling of garrisons and fortifications and the restitution of worship rights for communities of both faiths who had been denied them in war time. Further required was the expulsion of foreign troops that had been brought into the province to fight the war and the termination of all levies that were not royally raised. Finally the chambre de l'édit must be allowed to operate free of interference with biconfessional commissioners with local commanders of each faith acting as enforcers for their various judgements.[12]

As peasant rebellions bloomed in 1579, some lords in Dauphiné sought to turn them to their advantage, recruiting them to fight in aristocratic feuds. Bellegarde wrote to the Protestant noble Lesdiguières cautioning him against doing this. Noting this would have long term impacts on the ability to enforce the social order. Catherine concurred with Bellegarde's analysis, critiquing Colas for similar actions.[13]

In March 1579 Bellegarde had re-occupied Saluzzo, successfully having seized it from the governor Charles de Birague. Henri, frustrated at this blatant insubordination considered sending in an army to crush Bellegarde, but fearful this would cause a civil war, mediation by the duke of Savoy was chosen instead. On 17 October an agreement favourable to Bellegarde had been reached under the dukes guidance. After begging for the kings forgiveness Bellegarde was granted the marquisate again as his territory. Several months later he would be dead.[14]